Learning from The Beatles (Part 2 - Songs 11 to 20)
I previously wrote a post explaining that you can tie almost every Beatles song back to some important legal rule or tip for the bar exam ("Do You Want to Know a Secret?", dated January 19, 2018).
In the post, I identified 10 Beatles songs from “Help!” (describing the excited utterance exception to the hearsay rule) to “Because” (explaining the importance of incorporating the word “because” to avoid conclusory analyses in essays).
But the list represented only less than five percent of The Beatles’ entire musical catalogue. The Beatles wrote more than 200 songs between 1962 and 1970.
Here’s a follow-up post identifying another 10 Beatles songs, including “Doctor Robert” (subsequent medical malpractice) and “Please Mister Postman” (the Mailbox Rule).
11. Doctor Robert
If you're down he'll pick you up, Doctor Robert
Take a drink from his special cup, Doctor Robert
Doctor Robert, he's a man you must believe
Helping everyone in need
No one can succeed like Doctor Robert
(Album: Revolver)
Torts: Once negligent conduct is shown (a breach of the standard of care owed a foreseeable plaintiff), the plaintiff must show that the conduct was both actual (factual) cause and the proximate (legal) cause of his injury. Generally, proximate cause is a question of foreseeability—a defendant is usually is liable for all harmful results that are the normal incidents of and within the increased risk caused by his acts. There are a few instances when an intervening force is always considered foreseeable. One of those exceptions is a subsequent medical malpractice.
Tip: Don’t let subsequent medical malpractice in a fact pattern cut off the causal chain. Medical malpractice is almost always considered a foreseeable intervening force because it is a foreseeable risk arising from a physical injury that requires medical treatment.
12. If I fell
If I fell in love with you
Would you promise to be true
And help me understand
Cos I've been in love before
And I found that love was more
Than just holding hands
(Album: A Hard Day's Night)
Torts: Owners and occupiers of land owe a duty of due care to individuals coming onto their property. The extent of their liability depends on the plaintiff’s status—e.g., undiscovered trespasser; discovered trespasser; licensee; or invitee.
Undiscovered trespasser—The defendant owes no duty to an undiscovered trespasser.
Discovered trespasser—The defendant owes a discovered or anticipated trespasser a duty to warn of or make safe known conditions if they are nonobvious and highly dangerous.
Licensee—The defendant owes a licensee a duty to warn of or make safe known conditions if they are nonobvious and dangerous.
Invitee—The defendant owes an invitee a duty to make reasonable inspections and to discover nonobvious dangerous conditions and warn of or make them safe.
Tip: Keep in mind that a plaintiff who might originally be classified as an invitee can be reclassified as a trespasser later if the plaintiff exceeds the scope of the permission or invitation on the premises.
13. She’s a Woman
My love don't give me presents
I know that she's no peasant
Only ever has to give me
Love forever and forever
My love don't give me presents
Turn me on when I get lonely
People tell me that she's only
Fooling, I know she isn't
She's a woman, she's a woman
She's a woman, she's a woman
(Album: Past Masters Vol. 1)
Constitutional Law: In United States v. Virginia, 518 U.S. 515, 531 (1996), the U.S. Supreme Court held that state laws that make classifications on the basis of gender are unconstitutional unless the state can establish an “exceedingly persuasive justification” for the classification. Intermediate scrutiny applies: the government has the burden to show that the law is substantially related to achieve an important government interest.
Tip: Only two groups of “quasi-suspect classifications” are examined under the intermediate scrutiny test—gender and legitimacy. Don’t expand what groups are examined under this standard of review. There are currently two, and only two.
14. Taxman
If you drive a car, I'll tax the street
If you try to sit, I'll tax your seat
If you get too cold I'll tax the heat
If you take a walk, I'll tax your feet
Taxman!
Cos I'm the taxman, yeah I'm the taxman
(Album: Revolver)
Constitutional Law: Congress has the power to tax. Most federal taxes are constitutional if they bear some reasonable relationship to revenue production or if Congress has the power to regulate the activity taxed. Congress may also spend for any public purpose to “provide for the common defense and general welfare.”
Tip: Remember that the federal government can tax and spend for the general welfare. The federal government cannot directly legislate for it. Thus, nonspending regulations cannot be supported by the General Welfare Clause.
15. Come Together
Here come old flat top.
He come grooving up slowly.
He got joo joo eyeball.
He one holy roller.
He got hair down to his knee.
Got to be a joker he just do what you please.
(Album: Abbey Road)
Constitutional Law: The U.S. Supreme Court has long held that the First Amendment's protection of free speech, assembly, and petition logically extends to include a “freedom of association." Generally, this means we have the freedom to associate with others who have similar political, religious, or cultural beliefs.
Tip: The right to associate for expressive purposes is not absolute. It may be infringed to serve a compelling government interest, unrelated to the suppression of ideas, that cannot be achieved through means significantly less restrictive of associational freedoms, at least when the infringement would not significantly affect an association's right to express its viewpoints.
16. Don’t Bother Me
Since she’s been gone
I want no one
To talk to me
It’s not the same
But I’m to blame
It’s plain to see
So go away and leave me alone
Don’t bother me
(Album: With The Beatles)
Torts: Private nuisance is a substantial, unreasonable interference with another private individual’s use or enjoyment of property that he actually possesses or to which he has a right of immediate possession.
Tip: Make sure you critical examine the defendant’s interference with the plaintiff’s use or enjoyment of the land. Substantial interference is interference that is offensive, inconvenient, or annoying to the average person in the community. Interference is not substantial if it is merely the result of plaintiff’s hypersensitivity or specialized use of his own property.
17. Golden Slumbers
Once, there was a way to get back homeward
Once, there was a way to get back home
Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby
Golden slumbers fill your eyes
Smiles awake you when you rise
Sleep, pretty darling, do not cry
And I will sing a lullaby
(Album: Abbey Road)
Torts: According to the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 35, an actor is subject to liability to another for false imprisonment if “(a) he acts intending to confine the other or a third person within boundaries fixed by the actor, and (b) his act directly or indirectly results in such a confinement of the other, and (c) the other is conscious of the confinement or is harmed by it.”
Tip: Be careful when the plaintiff is asleep when the confinement took place. Unless the plaintiff was harmed by the confinement—perhaps by unwittingly inhaling toxic fumes while sleeping—there will be no false imprisonment.
18. Little Child
Little child, little child
Little child, won't you dance with me?
I'm so sad and lonely
Baby take a chance with me
Little child, little child
Little child, won't you dance with me?
I'm so sad and lonely
Baby take a chance with me
(Album: With The Beatles)
Torts: Unless a child is engaged in a dangerous adult activity, a child’s conduct is not measured against that of the reasonably prudent person. Instead, most jurisdictions measure a child's conduct against that of a child of like age, education, intelligence, and experience. For physically disabled children, conduct must conform to that of a reasonably careful child with the same physical disability.
Tip: What are considered an adult activity? The Restatement (Third) of Torts provides the following examples as dangerous adult activities: “driving a car, a tractor, and a motorcycle, and operating other motorized vehicles such as minibikes, motorscooters, dirt bikes, and snowmobiles.”
19. Drive My Car
You're giving me the same old line
I'm wondering why
You hurt me then
You're back again
No, no, no, not a second time
Not a second time
Not the second time
No, no, no, no, no
No, no no
(Album: Rubber Soul)
Torts: The general rule is that an automobile owner is not vicariously liable for the tortious conduct of another person driving his automobile. In some jurisdictions, courts have developed exceptions to this rule to hold an automobile owner liable under specific circumstances. For example, some states have adopted statutes that make the owner liable for tortious conduct of immediate family or household members who are driving with the owner’s express or implied permission.
Tip: Be careful that you’re not confusing the vicarious liability of the owner for the family member’s tort with the direct liability of the owner for negligently entrusting the vehicle to a family member. An owner may be liable for her own negligence in entrusting the car to a driver. This is not vicarious liability.
Wait, oh yes wait a minute mister postman
Wait, wait mister postman
Mister postman look and see
Is there a letter in your bag for me
I been waiting a long long time
Since I heard from that girl of mine
(Album: With The Beatles)
Contracts and Sales: The mailbox rule states that an offer is accepted at the time the acceptance was dispatched (whether by mail, e-mail, or similar means).
Tip: While the Mailbox Rule is straightforward, there are several exceptions to the Mailbox Rule. The Mailbox Rule does not apply in the following situations:
Where the offer stipulates that acceptance is not effective until received;
Where an option contract is involved, in which case an acceptance is effective only upon receipt;
Where the offeree sends a rejection and then sends an acceptance, in which case whichever arrives first is effective; or
Where the offeree sends an acceptance and then a rejection, the acceptance is effective unless the rejection arrives first and the offeror detrimentally relies on it.
“The End”
